How to Get Great Guitar Tones – Warren Huart: Produce Like A Pro

hi it’s Warren hewed here hope you’re doing marvelously well pleased as ever subscribe to the youtube link and you can go to produce like a pro dot-com and sign up for the email list and we’ll send you some free files to download you can edit some drum files that Greg D’Angelo played there’s also some samples there there’s some free tracks that we’ve recorded you can listen to and of course access to behind-the-scenes stuff and more explored versions of recording pianos and drums etc and we’ll continually add stuff to that and of course there’s always the giveaways that we do now today what I wanted to do was to talk to you what I wanted to do is talk to you about getting good guitar tones for recording I’m just going to use one amp it’s a tube amp and I’m going to explain how I get different sounds now the reason why I’m doing this is because I’ve had a couple of people sort of like make comments about the tube amp sayings of tones weren’t clean and I think there’s something important about using a tube amp tube amps should be set so that when played say like this they’re relatively clean but when you dig in they start to break up a little bit that’s kind of the sound of a tube amp that that just before a distort starts to distort is the thickness of it so what we’re going to do is I’m going to explain how I set up my amp and I’m also going to give you a couple of versions of tones etc that I use and we’re going to record it with an sm57 and we’re going to go through our DMP straight to Pro Tools ok so let’s get started again back to our inexpensive guitar here which is a Pacifica as you know I love these because as Seymour Duncan pickups on etc etc in a very inexpensive guitar I am however using an old Marshall amp which is probably $1,000 am so it’s not the cheapest of all amps but you know I do love tube amps they don’t have to be this big size head that you’re going to see here you can use a little 5 watt tube combo no Vox make some I’m sure Marshall do lots of people make smaller tube combos and some that just have single volume other they have preamp gain and master volume games so you can set typical different levels of distortions let’s have a look at this one over here so what I have here is an old JMP if you can see the way I’ve got it set up here I personally like the treble down a little bit I cut a little bit mids i boost the bass and i’ve got presents high here to compensate for the treble I find Marshalls a little brighter than maybe than quite a few amps now the way I’ve got it set is I got the master up relatively high my preamps at like 3 I go to the bridge pick up on the guitar and drive it there’s some Drive but I’m playing hard nuts now if I take that same pickup and just play differently really quite clean but it’s thick sounding so it might be clean clean enough to the human ear especially in a track that’s pretty clean cleaned up for an arpeggio go to the neck pick up you know that’s like kind of little Jimi Hendrix’s sound obviously he used the middle pickup we don’t have a middle pickup but again it comes down to how you play if I play like this you almost get a jazz town you know so I would call that a clean tongue frankly I know it’s slightly breaking up but in a track that’s going to appear very clean but it’s also going to sound thick now that’s sort of where I would start off with most tones if I go to the the bridge pickup which is a lot higher output that little bit of break up is very slight but I dig in it’s a law that’s got a fuzz pedal down here so this is this is a pretty cool fuzz and I’ve got I like this one a lot I’ve got to set up pretty crazy here seal de the bases up mitt is sucked out there’s also like this deep control which we could add back in but for me you see that’s and I can drive the amp harder by putting level out this will really get us yeah thick that starts to Sam interesting with this down here soup and when my point is with that amount of gain and this particular first pedal I mean obviously each pedals going to route differently it does just enough for me it’s adding enough Distortion slight amount of distortion from the preamp to make it sound like a thick sounding tube amp and the pedals respond nicely to it I think if this was going into a incredibly clean or transistor amps and that we wouldn’t get that kind of richness that we get again the same thing could be true of like using a chorus pedal you know if I you know I’ve got my my chorus here it’s a double chorus but I’ve got this side here it’s a little bit of break up but again if I play softly it’s pretty clean and you know if I could even play a little funky with this maybe you know I want to wind down the guitar slightly I mean in the true sense of the word is that crystal clean clean no but does it sound really good and thick yes so that’s why we love to bats just that kind of that perception of a clean tone but that thickness again you know delays I mean I love it I’m gonna do like arpeggio kind of stuff Hey I just feel like it’s very very versatile these kind of settings allow me a lot obviously combined the chorus and delay here and the chorus yeah once again not super-clean but just enough grit to give us some thickness and have it cut through now obviously with amp simulators you can do the same thing so if you go to or 11 or guitar amp or you know whatever particular amp simulation you have amplitude etc set up something similar set it up so when you play heavy you know turn the stuff off when you dig in really and I’m playing heavy you’re getting just a little bit of distortion but then when you’re backing off and playing normally it’s a tiny bit of break up it just sounds sweet just dig it so even if you’re not using a real lamp using a simulator simulation of one I would set up that kind of tone and that will allow your guitar so just sound that little thicker they won’t have that little tuile it’ll you know thin this where some of the high strings are like poking out a little bit too much you know and these kind of settings I like especially the Marshall you know I have the presence higher than the treble it’s kind of more of a high range mid-range thing for me so anyway I hope that helps of course go and subscribe below go to produce like a pro comm and sign up for the email list and we’ll send you lots of other free behind-the-scenes stuff and we’re always doing giveaways and stuff and thank you ever so much for watching

Hi Warren. I had to tell you about my new 10 what Vox (AC10). they stopped making them in 1965 or something and started again in 2015. Yea I know…Wow. It is all tube with a rev and gain control. Im ling to try it through a 212 cabinet as the speaker is not fantastic. However the amp tones are wonderful. Perfect for that just starting to break tone that you and I really love, but it will saturate much farther. I would love to know what you think. It cost about $599.00 Canadian so thats an amazing price. By the way, thanks for asking on your last reply….im doing quite well these days. thanks so much for your wonderful videos.

Hi warren I'm Mauro from Argentina.I'm a big fan of your videos and saw them a lot of times, I'm getting started with my home recording and getting good guitar tones and I have one doubt about a video you made for getting guitar full and fat tones.I founded your example of setting the amp for playing soft for clean tones and hard for more distorted tones really helpful but my question is about more distorted tones such Buckcherry, Slash, etc.. More hard rock style… How do you think I can find that sweet spot for full and fat tones ?Thanks in advance Warren !

'So that's why we love tube amps' Haha, awesome and true! Having had solid-state Peavey amps for years, then finally borrowing a co-worker's Marshall Class 5, I was blown away by what I'd been missing for so long. That break-up and thickness Warren mentions increases the dynamics of your playing and all in all it just sounds wonderful. I'm hoping to find a decent (small) tube amp once I get settled into my new home later this month… I've been playing nothing but a $30 acoustic for 10 months and I miss electrics! of course that means I'd have to also buy an electric guitar or ship one of mine to Asia. Maybe it would be fun to do an episode specifically on tube amps, guitars and effects pedals (also, nontraditional use of effects pedals in production)? I feel like there's a tons of stuff I still need to learn about guitars.

I'm trying to catch up but there are so many videos and each single one is great! It reminds me of when I was watching the TV show Breaking Bad. After each episode, I was excited to watch the next one, I just couldn't get enough! Same here!Warren, if you see this, thank you so much for making these videos and for sharing them! I'm learning a lot and even when I already knew something, it's cool to see that a pro does it like that, too! Thanks again!

Come on mate you're English, it's a valve amp hahaha 🙂All those sliders, knobs & switches, I'd be lost in that lot !……I try to use my Presonus & Studio One and I still don't have a bloody clue what I'm doing.

Howdy, I just discovered your videos for the first time and I just have to say when a person has a great passion for what they do, they get very good at it and the feelings come through and are felt by some of us viewers , I felt it right away ! You do have the passion and I listened !! I appreciate that kind of talent and thank you for the advice !! I will use it !!, Cheers !! Roger. (johnny sea)

Spot on!!! This really is the beauty of the tube amp and exactly how they were used in some of the greatest songs ever recorded! The greatest guitar effect ever produced IS the volume control on your guitar followed very closely by the tone control on your guitar! Coupled with a brilliant tube amp and one has to look no further than Eric Clapton's work with Cream! A truly stunning use of minimal equipment to get eternal guitar tones! Thank You so much for this as most modern players think I'm completely bonkers for suggesting such an approach! 🙂

That is something so important that I have found out. You don't need the Marshall 100 watt or bigger brain firing two 4×12 cabs to get a monster sound and most of that sound from that stage rig is wasted in a studio. A 10 to 30 watt driving a single 4×12 or even a two by or a single 10 to 15 inch speaker cab, combined with a cheap 57 right of axis on the grill cloth is going to not only give all the sound you want but not be nearly as loud and unmanagable.

hey thank you for posting this, I don't know if you can help but I'm suffering from a cable buzz issue, is there anyway you could do a video on removing noise after recording. that would be amazing unless u already have something.

also if its possible to fix the scratchy sounds when the Mic clips. man that would be really useful for a lot of diy artists with less than ideal gear

Great video I disagree on your clean theory, I like the edge of breakup thing but still cleaner then this also plenty if valve amps have thd going on without obvious distortion. It's like any tube gear like say an rca preamp the tubes add saturation but the desirable sound is still clean. I do agree there needs to be some thd though a black face or silver face fender set low is never my cup of tea which is why I'm a vox guy myself.

Finally…..some one who gets tone.I loved the long video you did on how VH 1 was recorded…probably broke the hearts of all the brown sound tone chasers though,but it did kill all the myths and false information out there and proved my argument on no one but a select few have actually heard Ed's real tone.Cheers

Do you ever add modulation effects (delay, Chorus, reverb, etc.) with plug-ins after tracking so you aren’t stuck with a part that you don’t like? Or do you have a pretty good idea of what it will sound like in the mix and go ahead and track with the effects

That’s interesting that you boosted the bass, lots of forums and groups say to cut the bass, but if you boost the bass to get that think tone then high pass it at the mix stage then it won’t interfere with the bass.

Can you show us how to get the best tones with a Strat, silver face Fender Twin, and also a Marshall plexi style amp? I am looking for that awesome mega way huge Hendrix, Stevie Ray, Frank Marino type tones.. Thanks.

Love this straight forward, no nonsense, demystified approach to the tone monster 😉 So few knobs on that head vs my Rivera TBR-1m lol but wouldn't want to go back to less is more hehehe it's just mine is so heavy, I don't carry it about !

I own a few and love the old Marshall JMP & JCM 800 "6 knob" amps. One thing you should consider which you probably already know is clipping the bright cap. It is very easy to do and only takes a minute. It really cures these Marshall amps of those extremely ear piercing highs. You can do it yourself just lift one leg off the bright cap located between the volume and Preamp gain pot. Plenty of pictures on line indicating exactly what cap to clip or unsolder a leg of which is very easy to redo if you wanted to set it back to stock.

A hifi amp is clean but sucks for a guitar !A guitar can talk with emotion if you use you fingers with a thick growling gain setting !That's musical as you can get , the cleaner the more hifi parlor acoustic sounds get !

Warren wow you play guitar very well. Warren in daw software and guitars and like bias positive grid. How do we clean single coil strat guitars noise like hum and em magnetic noise. ?? What keeps the music perfect will waves X Noise fix it all ? And can you still dial in the full guitar tone. Can you show us how to prefect X noise to cut out all horrible guitar single coil noise issues. Thanks ian